Industrial Instrumentation

Ch.E- 401

Muhammad Rashed Javed

2 Pressure Measurement Methods

 Elastic pressure transducers

 Manometer Method

 Pressure measurement by measuring vacuum

 Electric pressure transducers

Industrial Instrumentation
3 Pressure Measurement

Industrial Instrumentation
4 Piezoresistive (strain gauge) sensors
 “Piezoresistive” means a resistance that changes with applied pressure
 In order to be practical, a strain gauge must be glued (bonded) on to a
larger specimen capable of withstanding an applied force (stress)
 As the test specimen is stretched or compressed by the application of
force, the conductors of the strain gauge are similarly deformed.
Electrical resistance (R) of any conductor is:
 R ∝ l/A
 Tensile deformation (stretching) will increase electrical resistance by
simultaneously increasing length (l) and decreasing cross-sectional area (A)
while compressive deformation (squishing) will decrease electrical resistance.

Industrial Instrumentation
5 Strain Gauge Working Principle
 A simplified illustration of a diaphragm /
strain gauge pressure sensor is shown here:
 As the diaphragm stretches outward with
applied fluid pressure, the strain gauge
stretches along to a greater length, causing
its resistance to increase.
 This change in resistance imbalances the
bridge circuit, causing a voltage (Vout)
proportional to the amount of applied
pressure.
 Thus, the strain gauge works to convert an
applied pressure into a measurable voltage
signal which may be amplified and
converted into a 4-20 mA loop current
signal (or into a digital “fieldbus” signal).

Industrial Instrumentation
6 Strain gauge Sensors Material
 The classic strain gauge system represented previously is made of
metal (both the test specimen and the strain gauge itself).
 Within its elastic limits, many metals exhibit good spring
characteristics, however, when subject to fatigue over repeated cycles
and/or overpressure, they tend to “flow” and lose accuracy due to
damage of the spring and strain gauge elements.
 Modern techniques apply strain gauges made of silicon instead of
metal.
 Silicon exhibits very linear spring characteristics over its narrow
range of motion, and a high resistance to fatigue. When a silicon
strain gauge is over-stressed, it fails completely rather than “flows” as
is the case with metal strain gauges.

Industrial Instrumentation
7
Single Silicon Wafer Strain Gauge
 Single silicon wafer serves as both the diaphragm and the strain gauge to
fully exploit the excellent mechanical properties of silicon (high linearity
and low fatigue).
 Silicon not chemically compatible with many process fluids, and so
pressure transferred to the silicon diaphragm/sensor via a non-reactive fill
fluid.
 A metal isolating diaphragm transfers process fluid pressure to the fill
fluid, which in turn transfers pressure to the silicon wafer.
 The isolating diaphragm is designed to be much more flexible (less rigid)
than the silicon diaphragm, because its purpose is to seamlessly transfer
fluid pressure from the process fluid to the fill fluid, not to act as a spring
element.

Industrial Instrumentation
8 Differential capacitance sensors
 Sensing element is a taut metal diaphragm located equidistant between
two stationary metal surfaces, comprising three plates for a
complementary pair of capacitors.
 An electrically insulating fill fluid (usually a liquid silicone compound)
transfers motion from the isolating diaphragms to the sensing
diaphragm, and also doubles as an effective dielectric for the two
capacitors.
 The sensing diaphragm is a precision-manufactured spring element,
meaning that its displacement is a predictable function of applied force.

Industrial Instrumentation
9 Differential capacitance sensors
 The diaphragm’s secondary function as one plate of two capacitors provides
a convenient method for measuring displacement.
 Since capacitance between conductors is inversely proportional to the
distance separating them, capacitance on the low-pressure side will increase
while capacitance on the high-pressure side will decrease
 A capacitance detector circuit connected to this cell uses a high-frequency
AC excitation signal to measure the different in capacitance between the
two halves, translating that into a DC signal which ultimately becomes the
signal output by the instrument representing pressure

Industrial Instrumentation
10 Differential capacitance sensors
 Highly accurate, stable and rugged.
 Design Advantage:
 Excellent resistance to overpressure damage
 The fill fluid protects the delicate sensing diaphragm from contact
with unclean or corrosive process fluids
 The fill fluid allows the isolating diaphragms to provide overpressure
protection for the sensing diaphragm
 The fill fluid provides a medium of constant permittivity for the
differential capacitance circuit to function.

Industrial Instrumentation
11
Differential capacitance sensors
 A close-up photograph shows the construction of one of the isolating
diaphragms, which unlike the sensing diaphragm is designed to be very
flexible. The concentric corrugations in the metal of the diaphragm allow
it to easily flex with applied pressure, transmitting process fluid pressure
through the silicone fill fluid to the taut sensing diaphragm inside the
differential capacitance cell.

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 Coplanar Differential Capacitance Sensor
12

 the plane of the sensing diaphragm perpendicular to the plane of the two
isolating diaphragms. This “coplanar” design is more compact than the older
style of sensor, and more importantly it isolates the sensing diaphragm from
flange bolt stress – one of the main sources of error in the previous design

Industrial Instrumentation
 Resonant element sensors
13
 Process pressure enters through ports in two flanges,
presses against a pair of isolating diaphragms,
transferring motion to a single sensing diaphragm via
fill fluid where the resonant elements change frequency
with diaphragm strain.
 Motion of the sensing diaphragm in either direction
tenses one resonant element and compresses the other,
causing their frequencies to deviate from each other.
 Electronic circuits within the upper housing measure
the two resonant elements’ frequencies and generate an
output signal proportional to their frequency difference.
This, of course, is a representation of applied
differential pressure.

An interesting advantage of the

resonant element pressure sensor is that
the sensor signal is
easily digitized.

Industrial Instrumentation
14 Self-Balancing System
 Self-balancing system continuously balances an adjustable quantity
against a sensed quantity, the adjustable quantity becoming an
indication of the sensed quantity once balance is achieved.
 Such a system is perfectly linear, which is why used for scientific work.
The scale mechanism itself is the very model of simplicity, and the only
thing the pointer needs to accurately sense is a condition of balance
(equality between masses).

Industrial Instrumentation
 Force-Balance Pressure Transmitter
15
 Balancing task given to an automatic mechanism, the adjustable
quantity will continuously change and adapt as needed to
balance the sensed quantity.
 For pressure instruments, pressure is easily converted into force
by acting on the surface area of a sensing element such as a
diaphragm or a bellows. A balancing force may be generated to
exactly cancel the process pressure’s force, making a force-
balance pressure instrument.
 Like the laboratory balance scale, an industrial instrument built
on the principle of balancing a sensed quantity with an
adjustable quantity will be inherently linear, which is a
tremendous advantage for measurement purposes

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 Force-Balance Pneumatic Pressure Transmitter
16

 Diagram of a force-balance
pneumatic pressure
transmitter, balancing a
sensed differential pressure
with an adjustable air
pressure which becomes a
pneumatic output signal.

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 Force-Balance Pneumatic Pressure Transmitter
17

 Differential pressure is sensed by a

liquid-filled diaphragm “capsule,”
which transmits force to a “force
bar.”
 If the force bar moves out of position
due to this applied force, a highly
sensitive “baffle” and “nozzle”
mechanism senses it and causes a
pneumatic amplifier (called a
“relay”) to send a different amount of
air pressure to a bellows unit.
 The bellows presses against the
“range bar” which pivots to counter-
act the initial motion of the force bar.
 When the system returns to
equilibrium, the air pressure inside
the bellows will be a direct, linear
representation of the process fluid
pressure applied to the diaphragm
capsule.

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 Force-Balance Electronic Pressure Transmitter
18

 Differential pressure is sensed by

the same type of liquid-filled
diaphragm capsule, which
transmits force to the force bar.
 If the force bar moves out of
position due to this applied force,
a highly sensitive electromagnetic
sensor detects it and causes an
electronic amplifier to send a
different amount of electric
current to a force coil. The force
coil presses against the range bar
which pivots to counteract the
initial motion of the force bar.
 When the system returns to
equilibrium, the milliampere
current through the force coil will
be a direct, linear representation
of the process fluid pressure
applied to the diaphragm capsule.

Industrial Instrumentation